Robbie Robertson: Movies, Awards & Box Office

Robbie Robertson (Jaime Royal Robertson, July 5 1943 – August 9 2023) was a Canadian musician of First Nations and Jewish ancestry who became one of the most influential guitarists of the 20th century. Born in Toronto, Ontario, he grew up shuttling between the city and the Six Nations reserve, where his mother taught him the basics of guitar and his older cousin Herb Myke refined his technique. By his early teens he was already playing in local bands such as Little Caesar and the Consuls and later formed Robbie and the Robots, a group that caught the attention of rock‑abilly legend Ronnie Hawkins and led to his invitation to join the Hawks. Robertson’s tenure with the Hawks evolved into the formation of The Band, whose groundbreaking blend of rock, folk, blues, and country helped create the Americana genre; he penned classic songs like “The Weight,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” and “Up on Cripple Creek.” After The Band’s 1978 farewell concert The Last Waltz, he launched a solo career that produced hits such as “Somewhere Down the Crazy River” and earned Grammy nominations, while his collaborations with director Martin Scorsese yielded iconic soundtracks for Raging Bull, The Color of Money, Gangs of New York, and the posthumously released Killers of the Flower Moon, for which he received an Academy Award nomination.

Beyond the stage, Robertson received numerous honors including induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1994), the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and Canada’s Walk of Fame, as well as the Officer of the Order of Canada in 2011. He was married to journalist Dominique Bourgeois from 1968 until their divorce in 2003, and later to entrepreneur Janet Zuccarini in 2023; he fathered three children, one of whom, Sebastian, co‑authored a memoir with him. Robertson died on August 9 2023 in Los Angeles after a battle with prostate cancer, leaving a legacy that continues to shape rock, film music, and Indigenous artistic expression.